abduction
1 Americannoun
noun
-
the act of taking someone away by force or cunning; kidnapping
-
the action of certain muscles in pulling a leg, arm, etc away from the median axis of the body
Etymology
Origin of abduction1
First recorded in 1620–30; abduct + -ion
Origin of abduction2
First recorded in 1690–1700, abduction is from the New Latin word abductiōn- (stem of abductiō; translation of Greek apagōgḗ ). See abduct, -ion
Explanation
If you're the victim of an abduction, you've been carried away against your will — kidnapped. The word comes from Latin ab "away" + ducere "lead." Abduction is also when you move your arm or leg away from your midline. "The Abduction from the Seraglio" is the English title of a famous Mozart opera, in which a nobleman tries to rescue his betrothed, who has been captured — abducted — by pirates and sold into a pasha's harem, or seraglio. At the end of the opera, the pasha is overwhelmed with mercy and frees everyone and sends them home. So there really isn’t an abduction from the seraglio; the pasha lets everybody go.
Vocabulary lists containing abduction
Lead the Way: Duc and Duct
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Freak the Mighty
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Strike A Pose: Positions and Posture
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
He was taken to police in Toulouse, before being brought to the UK where an investigation into potential abduction was opened.
From BBC • May 13, 2026
Police in western Nigeria have arrested 42 suspected illegal miners as part of an investigation into the abduction of a local monarch.
From BBC • Apr. 21, 2026
Guthrie’s interview comes nearly two months since Nancy’s Guthrie’s abduction.
From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 26, 2026
Savannah Guthrie will appear Thursday on NBC’s “Today” for the first time since the Feb. 1 abduction of her mother.
From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 25, 2026
Eighteenth-century English and French scientists rejected the ample testimony as to the reality of meteorites, as we reject stories of alien abduction.
From "The Invention of Science" by David Wootton
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
